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One grant program, the Health Center Controlled Networks, is intended to advance adoption, implementation, and optimization of health IT. Another grant program provides supplemental funding to improve the electronic reporting capacity of health centers in Beacon Communities
Administered by the Office of the National Coordinator for Heath Information Technology, the Beacon Communities program provides funding to 17 selected U.S. communities with strong health IT infrastructure, such as high rates of electronic health record adoption.
The third grant, the Delivery System Health Information Investment, supports strategic investments in health IT infrastructure to support quality improvement.
Overall, the HRSA awarded $15.8 billion in grants from the CHCF to health centers between fiscal years 2011 and 2017. Of this total, 79.7 percent went to fund ongoing operations at existing health centers, 7.6 percent went to increase services provided at existing centers, 7 percent went toward increasing the number of health centers and sites, and 5.7 percent went to special initiatives, such as the health IT infrastructure programs.
The GAO also found that the health centers’ revenue jumped from $12.7 billion in calendar year to $26.3 billion in calendar year 2017. Revenue comes from reimbursements from Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and federal and state grants.
Revenue from federal and state grants decreased from 38 percent of revenue in 2010 to about 30 percent of revenue in 2017. At the same time, Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance reimbursements increased.
The number of health centers increased from 1,124 centers in 2010 to 1,373 centers in 2017, and the number of patients served over the same seven-year period increased by from 19.5 million to 27.2 million.
